Flowers In The Attic
by FreakyGreenEyes123
Summary: After being locked in the attic of their grandfather's mansion by their own mother, hidden away and tortured by their grandmother, Callie and Jude escape four years later and coincidentally fall under the Foster's wing. After much turbulence and effort, will the two siblings finally confront their past and move on? Or will they continue to be haunted by the memories of the attic?
1. Part 1: Escape

**Full**** Summary-** After being locked in the attic of their grandfather's mansion by their own mother, hidden away from anyone else to see, Callie and Jude were treated with disdain, tortured by their evil grandmother, and lied to and poisoned by their mother. Once they finally escape four years later, they coincidentally fall under the Foster's wing. After much turbulence and effort, will the two siblings finally confront their past and move on? Or will they continue to be haunted by the memories of the attic? (This fic is loosely based on the book, Flowers In The Attic, by V.C. Andrews)

* * *

**What you need to know before you continue:**

_**Callie and Jude's mother didn't die.**_

_**They both had the same father who died four years ago.**_

**_Their mother, Colleen, is not the same person she was portrayed as in the show._**

**_Jude is younger in this fic, around 9, so Callie is 14._**

**_It's written in Callie's point of view._**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Paper Flowers**

I'm sitting in my bed watching my brother play with the paper flower kit that our mother brought him just a few minutes ago.

_FLASHBACK_

_I watched as she came into the room with her tennis dress on and new fancy jewelry. The skin on her face was vibrant and flushed with color, but I couldn't understand why she would even smile every time she saw us._

_We looked like hell. Our faces were pale and our eyes were darkened from complete exhaustion and lack of nutrients, from the sun that we had been deprived of for years._

_Jude had hardly grown since we'd been locked inside of this attic for the four years after we lost our father._

_The few outfits we actually had were completely faded from having to hand-wash them for so long._

_But once every week our mother would walk into the room with a huge smile on her face with her red lipstick that put me in a disgusted mood every time she would leave us with her kiss mark._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"Callie, do you want to come help me?" Jude asks with an eager smile on his face.

I found it amazing that he could still smile after all we'd been through.

I couldn't smile and actually mean it.

I give him a fake smile in return. "Sure, bud," I answer as I grab one of the pieces of paper from the box. I didn't want to help him because the thought just upset me even more.

It was just a reminder of what we were missing.

She wouldn't give us real flowers because she knew they'd just die from lack of sunlight in this attic.

_So why did she think that it was okay to keep her own kids hidden away and locked up in here for so long?_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Denial**

Colleen comes into the room again with a plate of powder-covered cookies. "Guess what I brought my baby dolls?" she says happily as she closes the door behind her.

Jude comes out of the bathroom and runs over to give her a hug and she returns it.

That would be the only hug she would receive tonight and she knew it.

But even I didn't want her touching him any more.

He was mine now.

I was the one raising him.

"I'm guessing it's not your father's death-certificate?" I ask angrily.

Colleen puts the plate down and looks at me, "Callie, sweetheart, I told you that it was going to take a while for my father to die."

"You said two weeks!" I yell. "Then, it was two more weeks, then another month, and then another month! Colleen, it's been four years! I'm tired of being locked in here with Jude, and having to listen to your lies!"

"Callie… The doctors say it should be any day now," Colleen says desperately. "Do you really want everything I've done for us to get ruined because of your impatience? I'm doing this for us," she says as she tries to run her hands through my hair, but I immediately back away from her.

"For us? Or for you?" I snap.

"Of course it's for us. You know very well, that he can't find out about the two of you. He'd disown me and make sure to take me out of his will. Then, we'll all be put out on the streets before you know it… Callie, Jude, I know this is difficult for the two of you, but you have to understand that I'm doing this for us. I promise that the second he passes, I'll take you two out of here and you never have to see this attic again. Okay?" she smiles at me but I just glare at her. She gives me a kiss on the forehead anyway, "I love you."

But after four years, her words mean nothing…

I watch as she walks out of the room and listen to her lock the door behind us with her key, the sound that I was beginning to hate so much.

"Why do you have to always do that?" Jude asks angrily. "You know mommy loves us. She brings us gifts all the time," he says as he takes one of the white cookies into his hand and licks it before eating it.

"Jude, she's been saying the same thing for years. She doesn't love us."

"Don't say that!" Jude snaps as he grabs the plate of cookies and walks over toward the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

**Chapter 3: In Sickness And In Sin**

I'm woken up this morning by the sound Jude's moans at the foot of my bed. I instantly sit up and see him standing besides it. I can tell that he's uncomfortable and that he's probably sick. "Baby, what's wrong?" I ask him, immediately in big sister mode.

"Callie, I feel really sick."

I put my hand over his forehead to check for a fever but don't find it warm. Then, I notice his hand clutching his stomach, "Does your belly hurt?" I ask.

He nods his head.

I glance around the room for something for him to eat, crackers or bread. But there isn't anything.

I remove my blanket a little, so that he can come into my bed. I hated it when he was sick, but all I could do right now was hold him so that he would feel safe. He gets in reluctantly and allows me to play with his hair until he falls asleep. I follow soon after.

A few hours later we both wake up when we feel the blanket being ripped off of us.

We're greeted by the sound of our grandmother's creepy voice, "Well, well, well, look what we have here. The devils spawn at it again."

I immediately sit in front of my little brother, so that she couldn't hit him, "We weren't doing anything. Jude was just feeling sick."

"Well, he looks fine to me!" she yells as she slaps me hard across my face. I immediately grab hold of my brother's arm and give him a reassuring squeeze, so that he knows that I'm okay. "I thought I told the two of you there would be no sinning in this house! Little boys and girls do not belong in the same bed!"

I wanted to yell back at her, but I knew I'd just be punished more for talking back. It took me awhile to learn that lesson, especially when defending Jude but I knew better than to do it. The only time I did was when I wanted the older woman to stop putting her hands on my brother.

"Bathroom," the woman instructs as she points toward the door and looks directly at me. I instantly get up and watch her reach into her robe, and I know exactly what's coming next.

"I'll be fine, Jude. I promise," I tell him as I offer him a small smile and walk away.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Lies and Venom**

It had been a week since our grandmother whipped me with her whip, but it didn't hurt as bad as long, as long as it wasn't Jude's back that had the marks and scars to remember them by.

I watch as our mother walks in with another plate of powdered cookies with her normal giddy expression.

"How are my dolls today?" she asks us, and I'm too mad to respond to her.

"Fine, mommy," Jude says as he lay in his bed with the comforter covering his body.

"Your son is sick," I tell her harshly, not that I think she actually cares. "He's been throwing up, getting nose bleeds… He even has bruises that he doesn't remember getting."

"Baby, are you sick?" she asks in a sad voice, as she places the plate of cookies down onto the nightstand and lays next to him.

Jude nods his head yes.

"I'm sorry to here that," she says as she plants a kiss on his forehead. She looks back over to me, "What about you, Callie? Are you sick?"

"Yes. Sick and tired of caged up like an animal," I answer harshly.

"Soon, sweetheart, soon," she says as she gives me a hug and then a kiss that I don't return. "Eat a cookie," she says as she grabs one from the plate and hands it over to me. I grab it just to get her to shut up and leave.

It was getting depressing to see her showing up more often.

All she was doing was reminding us of what we were missing out on.

The second she walks out I glance at the cookie. I hadn't even tried one, considering I was so mad that it was her bringing them to us. I didn't want to accept one thing from her anymore. Not until I was out of this room.

But the smell of the actual cookie has a weird aroma to it that I notice.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Escape**

The second I hear Jude moaning in pain again, I drop the cookie on the bed and stand up quickly to grab our bags from the closet that we had brought with us when we first moved in.

"What are you doing?" Jude asks in confusion.

I raise my index finger to my lip so that he'd get the hint. I didn't need him waking up the entire house before we got a chance to leave.

Thankfully, we didn't have a lot of stuff so packing didn't take very long. In matter of fact, I didn't even need to fill both bags since we barely had anything besides the clothes on our back.

I throw the bag around my back and remove the sheets, to put Jude's shoes on his feet.

"We're not supposed to leave, Callie."

"We'll come back," I lie to him. "But I need to get you to the hospital."

Surprisingly, he doesn't put up a fight and follows me out of the window. Once, we're both on the top of the roof, we slide our way down the other parts of it, trying to make as little noise as possible. The second we have only one story left, I look for the easiest way to get down, but realize that the only way we'd be able to was if we jumped.

I glance at the tall bushes and realize that I'd have no choice but to go first. "Okay, bud. I'm going to go first. And when I tell you I want you to sit down at the edge and jump after me okay."

"I can't do this," he says while shaking his head no.

"You have to. I promise, Jude. I'll catch you, okay? This is important. I can't have you—" I pause once I realize I might scare him even more. "You have to be brave, okay? You can do this. I know you can," I assure him.

When I'm sure that he's ready, I drop down into the bushes and can feel the stems puncturing my legs. I don't scream and hide my face from Jude completely so that he wouldn't notice how much it hurt.

I quickly stand up and motion Jude to jump now. After a few seconds, he does and luckily falls on top of me instead of in the bushes.

We both quickly get up and start running as far away from the Foxworth mansion as possible until Jude started slowing down.

"What's a matter baby? What's wrong?" I ask him.

He clutches his stomach in pain, "I can't run anymore."

"Okay," I say as I glance behind us and worry even more, when I can still see the mansion. Out of fear I pick him up and run with him as far as I could…


	2. Part 2: Pulse

**Chapter 6: Fear**

I ran with Jude as fast as I could, even though I was weak and Jude was heavy, despite being small for his age. But I couldn't let them find us and take us back there.

Jude's life was more important.

I start to slow down; when I feel Jude's painful moans go faint. I never thought that hearing the sound that made me quiver would be the same sound that I'd miss when it had stopped.

"Jude," I mutter as I drop the bag onto the floor and lower his head onto it, to get a better look at him.

His eyes are shut completely and he looks even paler than he had when we left.

I try to shake him awake, "Jude!" I yell but he doesn't respond and the tears start pouring down my face as if they'd never stop. He needed to wake up.

_I was the oldest. _

_I was the one that had to go first._

_This couldn't be the end for him._

_It was supposed to be our beginning._

* * *

**Chapter 7: Regret**

I curl up beside my baby brother, after I got too weak to keep screaming for help.

_No one came._

In fact, there wasn't another house for miles from what I remember when we first visited Foxworth Hall.

_How stupid was I to think that I could run that far with a sick child?_

_How stupid was I to not leave earlier, when Jude first started getting sick?_

"I'm so sorry, baby," I beg him to forgive me as I hold him closer toward my body, like I had done when he always felt sick.

_The only thing was, this time; I knew it wouldn't make him feel better._

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Light**

I'm woken up by a bright light shining on me. For a second, I was thankful that God was taking me too.

_All that praying that grandmother had made us do, had finally come in handy,_ I think to myself.

But then, I feel Jude's still-body in my arms, and I know that I'm still here.

Not to mention the voices that are surrounding us is clouding my escape from reality.

I lift up my hand up, to block the two lights from my eyes, that were blinding me, hence not allowing me visualize anything.

"Oh My God, Mike! Call an ambulance!" I hear a woman yell.

I want to tell her that it's too late, but I don't think I have the energy to speak anymore.

"Are you hurt?" the woman asks. But I don't respond because it was a dumb question. "Can you tell us what happened?" I hear the voice again, but it's too bright to make out a face.

I watch as a hand tries to reach for Jude's wrist, but I snatch it ahead of time, "Don't touch him!" I try to yell, but it comes out in raspy voice instead.

"I need to check his pulse, honey," I hear her say.

After a few seconds, I let go of her hand and look back over to Jude's face.

He looked as if he had frozen to death rather than died peacefully. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"We got a pulse!" the woman yells.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Pulse**

I glance over to Jude, and he seems to be as still as a rock. So I look toward the woman and can now make out her features.

"Where was he hit?" the blonde woman asks loudly, and I can see her glancing all over his body.

"He wasn't hit," I tell her, confused by her question. _Why would she think he was hit?_ I ask myself. That's when I suddenly feel the pattern of the pavement digging into my skin.

I hadn't really noticed that we were both in the middle of the street, despite the headlights of the police car that were aimed at us.

The woman glances over Jude for a few more seconds and decides to pick his small body up from the ground.

"Where are you taking him?" I ask worriedly.

"We need to get him to a hospital, sweets," she says matter-of-factly as she walked him over toward her car.

_But didn't she realize that she was taking him away from me?_

* * *

**Chapter 10: Chris**

I don't even ask, if I could ride along before I get into their car. _There was no way in hell I was allowing them to take my brother without me._

_He needed his big sister._

Their sirens are blasting louder than ever, and the sudden realization that I hadn't eaten anything all day is making my head spin around in circles. And the red and blue flashing lights are making my vision even worse.

Jude is sprawled out on my lap and the woman is sitting next to him, staring at both of us mumbling questions.

But my middle and index finger are both too busy trying to feel the pulsations on Jude's wrist. And my mind is still focused on Foxworth Hall.

_The attic._

_Jude._

_And Chris._

_Why hadn't Chris ever come back for us like he promised he would?_

_This would've never happened._

* * *

**Chapter 11: Free**

The blonde woman literally shakes me back into reality, but I'm still trying to reach Jude in his world.

"What's his name?" she asks angrily, but I assume that's just fear in her voice as her fingers tuck his hair behind his ear.

"…Jude," I mumble, completely unsure of whether or not I should've lied to her question.

"What happened to him?" she asks loudly, as if she were afraid to lose my attention again.

_But I don't get upset about it. _

_This was my fault._

I lift up my free hand and wipe my tears away, "Everything."

"What does that mean?" she asks worriedly.

I ignore her question and pull my baby brother closer toward me. "It's over," I whisper to him. "We're free."

* * *

**A/N: Jude will live (Take a breath). This is not a deathfic. Unlike the actual book, Flowers In The Attic, where the youngest brother died inside of the attic, this will not be a direct replica of it. If you've actually read the book, just know that I've changed a lot. Like I said, this fic is "loosely based on the book." Things will be very different, but it's where I got the inspiration from, so I had to give credit when it's due. **


	3. Part 3: Misperception

**Chapter 12: Anger**

The second we get to the hospital, I watch as the EMT's lift Jude from the backseat of the cop car and onto the gurney to whisk him away. I try to follow them but the blonde woman grabs my arm to hold me back.

"What are you doing?" I snap at her.

"We need to talk first," she answers sternly. And I glance back over toward my brother and see a man lifting Jude's eyelids and flashing a light into his eyes.

"They're hurting him," I say as I try to pull away from the woman to follow the men that are taking my brother.

"They're not hurting him. They're just trying to help," she responds as she stands in front of me, so that I'm forced to look at her, "And I bet it would be much easier if you told me what happened to him?"

I stare at her strangely as I contemplate what to tell her, "I don't know," I answer honestly.

And it was the truth.

I didn't know.

I wasn't sure.

"What does that mean?" she asks with just as much confusion. Her voice was much softer now, and it showed sincerity. But I knew all to well, that the evilest of people were always smart enough to wear a mask.

Just like my mother.

"Where are your parents?" she asks in a concerning voice. "We need to call them and let them know what's going on."

"They're dead," I respond harshly without hesitation.

It was a half-truth.

Our father was dead and our mother was dead to both of us after what she did.

"Oh…" she pauses for a few seconds, "Then, who are you staying with?"

"No one," I mumble.

"What do you mean no one? You've got to be staying with someone… An aunt, a relative, a—"

"No one," I answer in a much harsher tone, begging her to shut up about them. She needed to shut up. I couldn't take the anger that was boiling inside of me at the thought of either one of my parents.

I was angry at my father for dying, and I was more than angry at my mother for everything she's done to us since his death.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Not Normal**

She wraps her arms around my shoulder. "Come on, let's go," she says as she walks me toward the entrance of the hospital and into the waiting room. She pushes me onto one of the seats but I'm too busy searching for any sign of Jude to care.

The woman takes a seat beside me, and I glance at her from the corner of my eye, but only for a second. I can see her tense posture as she clasps her palms over her knees out of nervousness, "Well, I'm Officer Stef Foster… And he," she says raising her finger to the man that just walked in, "is Officer Mike Foster."

I watch as he stares up at us. And just as I think that he's about to walk over, he takes a seat on the farther side of the waiting room instead.

"So, now that I've told you our names, and you've told us your brother's, do you think you can tell us yours?" she asks nicely.

But I know better than to respond. I suddenly hate myself for telling her Jude's name and I can't even remember how or why I told her before, but I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. In fact, I contemplate giving her a fake name for a second, but quickly change my mind, realizing it would only cause for more problems. And that was the last thing I needed right now.

"I'm sure your name is prettier than that," she tries to joke to lighten the mood, but I can care less about her.

"Is Jude going to be okay?" I finally ask. "He's not back yet. When is he coming back?"

"Uh…" Stef starts, "I'm not sure yet… Do you know if he was sick or… what was happening to him? Can you tell us anything, anything at all that might help the doctor's figure out what's wrong with him? Please, this is very important."

"He uh…He's been having a really stomach ache for a few days," I swallow hard before I continue, "some nose bleeds, and he seemed really week. No fever, but I noticed bruises all over his body, but no one has hit him or anything." That I was sure of, "… Is that normal?"

Stef coughs nervously before answering, "No, that's not normal."

* * *

**Chapter 14: Realizations**

An hour later, the doctor begins walking toward us, "Are you two here for the boy that was just brought in?"

"Yes—" Stef starts but I interrupt her.

"How is he?" I ask as I quickly stand up.

"He's going to be okay… Thank God you two were able to bring him when you did. There was quite a trace of—"

"Can I see him?" I interrupt again.

All I needed to hear was that he'd be okay.

I was pretty sure I knew the rest.

"Um… not right now," the doctor says as he looks over toward Stef, "Are you the mother?"

"No, no. My partner and I found both of them in pretty bad shape, which is why we brought them here."

"Oh. Can I talk to you and your partner in private, mam?" he says, while staring at me awkwardly. It was obvious that he was going to talk about me, but I didn't mind it.

Not right now, anyway.

"Um, sure," she says as she pushes me gently back down onto the seat, and they both begin walking away from me and toward Mike.

And as soon as I'm out of their vision, I make my way over toward the direction that I saw the doctor come from.

I couldn't wait.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Sorry**

I scanned every room that I could find, until I found my brother lying on one of the hospital beds in one of them. A few elderly people yelled at me and I got some dirty looks from the younger ones, but that didn't stop me from finding Jude.

And when I did find him, he was sleeping with tubes sticking out of his nose and an IV needle sticking out of his arm. He still looked pretty pale and he appeared even more fragile than before. I begin to cry at the sight, blaming myself for not leaving sooner and blaming myself for believing that Chris would come back and save us from that house.

"I'm so sorry, Jude," I mutter as I kneel down on the side of his bed. "If I knew that this would happen, I would've left sooner. I wouldn't have ever let her do this to you." I grab onto his hand and squeeze it gently, not wanting to ever let go. "Jude," I try to call him as I push back his hair with my hands, praying that the gesture would wake him up again, like it always had in the mornings. But not surprisingly, it doesn't. I place my hand on his chest and breathe a sigh of relief when I can feel it moving up and down.

He would be okay.

A few minutes later, I feel footsteps coming into the room but I don't bother turning around. I couldn't let him out of my sight anymore.

"I'm going to need you to stand up," I hear Stef's voice, but I don't stand.

I didn't want her to be there.

Why was she still here?

Within seconds, she's grabbing my arms, lifting me up, bringing them around my back, and throwing her cuffs around my wrists, "What are you doing?" I ask worriedly.

"You have to come with me."

"No! I can't leave my brother!" I shout as I start tugging my weight forward causing both of our knees to drop to the floor.

She stands us both back up with even more force, "You have no choice," she replies angrily as she whisks me out of the hospital room kicking and screaming…


	4. Part 4: The Interview

**Chapter 16: Tension**

After I realized that I couldn't fight my way out of the blonde cop's grip, I became almost numb. I felt myself losing complete control of my body and handing it over to the misled woman.

In my mind I wanted to fight back. I wanted to get Jude and I wanted to escape the hospital just as I had escaped the attic, but my body didn't agree with me. It gave out too soon, and before I knew it I was far away from my baby brother and at the police station.

I understood what was happening. I was going to jail and I knew that she thought I had something to do with it. She really believed I had done this to my brother.

She drops me onto a chair in front of a long metal desk and un-cuffs one of my wrists, only to wrap the other side of the cuff to the metal loop on top the desk. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I would be prepared and accept whatever punishment was dealt.

My body was tense, just like it always was when grandmother pulled me into the bathroom to whip me. Or worse, not pull me into the bathroom and do it in front of Jude and Chris just to torture them too. But preparing my body by becoming tense always made the punishment hurt less somehow.

I couldn't understand why. Maybe it was all in my head, but either way I clench my fists and my eyelids and wait for the worst.

And in the back of my mind, I know that I deserve to be punished.

This was essentially my fault.

I just hated that Jude had to be the one to suffer once I was really gone.

* * *

**Chapter 17: The Interview**

She closes the door of the interview room and presses a button on the tape recorder that's aimed in my direction. And I know that it's ready to catch any words that I say.

It's too bad for her, that I knew better than to open my mouth.

"Can you state your full name and look at the camera please?" Stef asks as she takes a seat across from me.

I open my eyes and stare in her direction, all the while leaving my fists and toes clenched tightly.

"Let's not make this difficult. Just give me your name… I'll have you know that there are other ways to find out. And once we do we can add on obstruction to the charges against you. Are you sure you want to do that?"

Silence.

"By not giving me your name, it leads me and others to believe that you have something to hide. Do you realize that?"

_FLASHBACK_

"_Chris, please. Let's just go," I begged my older brother for the thousandth time, after I watch our grandmother whip Jude. "I can't bear to stay here anymore. These people are crazy. And our mother will make sure we rot up here and you know it."_

"_We can't go, Callie," Chris said. "We have nowhere to go to. At least they feed us up here, at least we have a shower and beds to sleep in every night… It would be stupid to leave, when grandfather is so close to dying. It'll be any day now."_

"_He's never going to die," I spat. "We need to get out of here and figure something else out, for Jude's sake if not for ourselves. We can go to the police and—"_

"_Don't you think that I'm thinking about Jude? Mom said that if we go to the police, they'll think we are lying… There's no record of our existence anymore, remember? Once the police find us, they'll think we made this whole story up and what's to prove otherwise? The only people who have seen us, since we moved, are our mother and our grandmother. And you know more than anyone that they'll deny our existence. They're already doing it… And what's to prove that the police won't separate us as soon as we tell them? You know that they won't believe us. Who would believe any of this?" Chris asked as he gestured toward the room. "Who would believe that our own mother locked us in the attic of our grandfather's mansion, for god knows how many years? Who would believe that we were all waiting for our grandfather to die to get us out? Who would believe that our grandmother tortured us for all of these years because she hated us for no reason? The police will throw you and I both, in the loony bin as soon as they got the chance and who knows what would happen to Jude? …The police are out of the question, Callie. All they care about is getting rid of the problem, even if that means getting rid of us. If you don't want to lose us forever, you can't go to the police. And if we ever do get out of here, you have to promise me that you'll never to tell them anything. If our own family doesn't care, what makes you think anyone else will?"_

"_Okay. You're right. I'm sorry."_

"_Promise me!" he yelled louder, as he snatched my chin into his hand and pressed harder on it for emphasis._

"_I promise," I cried from the pain. _

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"Alright. Well since you're not going to talk, I am," the blonde states, as she opens a file folder and hands me a piece of paper that I don't quite understand. I don't even bother to glance it over much, because nothing would make me talk. "Do you understand what it says?"

I run my fingers through my hair in frustration and keep my eyes focused on her.

"Your brother had a high level of arsenic in his system. Way more than any human should have. Which means that someone had to have intentionally poisoned him with it... Do you know anything about that?" she asks with raised eyebrows.

I glare at her angrily, because I hated that she was implying that I would do this to Jude. If she was going to punish me, I wanted her to get it over with.

"Your brother almost died!" she snaps as she gets out of her chair and points to the papers on the desk. "He's lying in a hospital bed right now, and the only person who could tell us something is you!"

At this moment, I want more than anything to yell back at her. But I was too weak to open my mouth.

Even if I did, I knew that nothing would come out.

"You need to tell us something and you need to tell us now," she says harshly. "If not, you will be charged with attempted murder. And if he dies— Oh, you better hope he doesn't die," she threatens as she stares at me with piercing eyes.

And her eyes are the very last thing I see before I drift off...

* * *

**Chapter 18: Callie**

When I finally come to, the first thing I can feel is something sticking out of my nose. I pull down on whatever it is and realize that it's a tube, so I try to yank it off before I hear the woman's voice again, "Hey, hey, don't pull that off. You need to leave it on so that you can breathe," she says as her hands reach up to put it back into place, but I slap her hands away instead.

I hated this woman. I despised everything about her already and now she was trying to manipulate me. I had been manipulated by way to many people in my lifetime and I would be damned to let it happen again.

She gives me a baffled expression, but I keep glaring at her until I look down and realize that I'm lying in a hospital bed.

_If I'm in the hospital, then maybe I'm in the same one that Jude is in,_ I conclude, which causes me to immediately try to stand up.

But Stef doesn't let me. "No, that's not a good idea, Callie," she says as she pushes me back down.

Just as I glance down at the needle that's sticking out of my arm and reach to pull it off, I freeze when I realize that she had said my name. I look up at her, with the hope that I had just misheard her or imagined her say it. But the small smile on that appears on her face proves otherwise.

I glance back down at the white sheets of the bed, wondering what I had done wrong.

_Did I mumble my own name in my sleep? And if I did, what else might I have said?_

_Did I tell her it during the interview by mistake? Was I not careful enough?_

_I had tried so hard not to say anything, but how had I messed this up this badly?_

And as if she had read my mind, she continues, "Jude told my partner your name… But what I don't get is why you didn't tell me yourself?"

* * *

**Chapter 19: Who?**

I stay silent and watch as she tries to eye every inch of my face in search for any sign of emotion. I could tell this was what she was doing, because I had done it so often while watching my grandmother.

Every time she would walk into the room, I had to read and try observe the structure of her face, so that I could predict what was to come. If her lips were clenched, her chin scrunched up, her eyes slightly open, and her nose flared, I knew that one of us was in trouble. If her mouth was closed but her tongue encircled her teeth, she was disgusted with us. Or if her eyes were opened wide, I knew that she was searching our own expressions for any indication of deceit that plagued our faces. And those times, were definitely the worst…

Part of me wants to hurt Stef somehow, because now she has the power to do something with this information or whatever else Jude told her. But the other part knows, that whatever I'd do would just make things worse.

"You do know that you could've been arrested, yes?" she asks as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"What else did Jude tell him?" I question, completely ignoring her own.

Stef furrows her eyebrows at me as if I had just said the most outrageous thing in the world, but I don't let that get to me. I needed to know what else he said.

"Callie," she starts nervously as she glances down at my hands, which I can feel are shaking, and then looks back up to my face, "…we need to know who you're so afraid of. Who did this to you?"

_I wanted to tell her that she shouldn't be asking me those questions._

_It's not like the answers to both of them were the same._

_Colleen did this but she wasn't around anymore._

_And now that we left, I knew that she'd never search for us. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? She wanted the three of us gone. But I just wish she'd given us the fighting chance to let us go before she attempted to kill us._

_I couldn't understand why was I still so fearful? _

_Could it have been because I didn't want to be separated from my brother?_

_Could it have been because I still don't know what happened to Chris? Why had he vanished to get help for us never come back? Could this entire world have become corrupt since we've been gone?_

_Or was I scared that I, myself, have been locked up in the attic for so long that I've completely lost in touch with reality?_

I knew that I couldn't give anyone an answer without knowing the truth myself, so I deflected Stef's question the best that I could. "I'm hungry," I answer matter-of-factly and stare at her expression and wait for her to respond.

It didn't matter that I could tell she was thinking that I was absolutely insane or using some kind of coping mechanism, to ignore the fact, that both my brother and I had been poisoned.

I didn't care.

I'll let her think what she wishes.

All that I needed was for her to leave the room…and for me to find Jude.


	5. Part 5: Never Letting Go

**Chapter 20: Opportunity**

"I'm hungry," I tell the blonde cop, just so I could get a couple of minutes alone. That was all the time I needed to find Jude and get the hell out of there.

If he was talking than that probably meant that he could leave now. And I had to stop him before he said too much.

_If he hadn't already said too much…_

Even if he did, it wouldn't change anything. We weren't going to waste any more time in the hands of these people than we needed to.

I wasn't going to give them the opportunity to separate us.

That wasn't the plan, when I made the decision to leave Foxworth Hall.

And I couldn't understand why the blonde cop was here anyway. _If she didn't think I had done anything wrong anymore, then why was she still on my back?_

"Is there anything you would like in particular?" Stef asks with a smile, but I could see right through it. People didn't really smile like that and mean it anymore. I could tell a fake-smile when I saw one.

And it's true what they say. _Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me._ But I had Jude to think about here, not only myself. I wouldn't let myself be fooled by another woman as long as was still breathing.

I shake my head slightly. It didn't matter what the hell she was going to go get. It's not like I would really be here to eat it when she got back.

"Yeah," she laughs. "Hospital food isn't very appealing…" She straightens up when she sees that I'm not laughing with her, "Okay…But if there's something you're in the mood for, then maybe that can help some…"

_Help what?_ I wonder, but I shake my head no instead.

"Okay then," she smiles. "I'll be right back, sweets," she says before she begins to walk out of the room.

And the second she's gone, I make sure to pull the tubes out of my noise and remove the tape and the IV from my arm, tossing them both onto the floor.

At that exact moment, I realize that I have on a hospital gown with no clothes on underneath. _What the hell?_ I mumble and all of a sudden I'm enraged at the fact that someone stole my clothes and undressed me.

_Did they see the scars on my back? _

_Did more than one person see them?_

The thought just makes me get out of the bed faster as I try to search the room for my clothes, but for some reason they aren't anywhere in there. _Screw it!_ I think to myself as I try to turn the gown around so that it's tied in the front of my body now and not in the back.

When I run toward the door, the first thing I see is Stef's back turned toward me, and she's talking to a nurse or a doctor. I'm not sure which, but I'm thankful that neither are paying me any attention right now.

I just hope that she'd keep the cop busy enough so that I could find Jude.

* * *

**Chapter 21: Jude**

I slip out of the room and try to walk as normal as possible, despite the fact that my foot fell asleep. I knew that if I'd stare worriedly at every nurse I'd see, it would attract attention and that's the last thing that I wanted right now.

Or needed for that matter.

I keep walking all the way down the hall and realize that I'm not on the same level as Jude is. By the time I reach the elevator, it opens abruptly. I move to the side and watch as two doctors walk out and walk in the opposite direction, without stealing a glance at me. I quickly make my way inside and press the CLOSE DOOR option so that Stef wouldn't catch me. Immediately afterward, I press the number 2, because I remember that Jude was in room 206.

When the door opens up again, I'm mortified that I'm going to see another cop or nurse or doctor step in, but I don't. I poke my head out quickly and see one nurse going into one of the rooms… thankfully.

When I reach Jude's room, I instantly step inside and notice the other police officer Stef was with sitting on a chair in front of his bed. I freeze immediately from fear and consider running out of the room. But from the looks of it, the man appears to be sleeping.

I quickly glance over toward Jude and see him sitting upright and staring at me with a smile on his face. He looks as if he's about to say something, but quickly retracts when I put my finger up to my mouth.

I start to take a few steps forward as silently as possible, so that I wouldn't wake the man up before Jude and I got a chance to get out of there.

When I'm start to move the rolling table with the tray of Jude's food away, I'm almost positive that he'd wake up from the squeaking of the wheels. I glance back up at him, but all he'd done is shift position a little.

I remove the mask from Jude's face and the IV needle from his arm, which I'm sure must've hurt, but he's smart enough not to make a sound. He gets up from the bed and we slowly but quickly make our way out of the room barefooted.

"Callie, where are we going?" he finally asks when we are out of earshot. "I wanna go back to Mommy."

I ignore him and keep walking, refusing to let go of his hand. I spot an open storage closet with what looks like hospital clothes and I lead Jude and I in there, barely closing the door behind us so that we could see enough to change.

I grab the smallest size sweat suit that I could find and hand it over to Jude, "Here, put this on."

He grabs the sweat suit from me and does what I say, as I search for one that would fit me.

"Callie, how did we get to the hospital?" he asks curiously.

"The cops brought us, Jude," I answer as I take off my own gown and pull a sweatshirt over me.

"Did they find out what's wrong with me?" he asks worriedly.

"Um, yeah. You're fine, Jude. Nothing's wrong," I try to assure him in the calmest way possible.

"I don't feel fine," he says grumpily. "My stomach still hurts," he moans as I watch him clutch his belly and look up toward me, as if I had the answer as to what to do. But of course, I didn't. This was something Chris would normally handle.

I finish slipping my sweatpants on and look at him, "Baby, we can't stay here," I tell my little brother. He nods understandably even though it's obvious he's still upset. He doesn't want to leave and I'm not sure why. I sigh and take a deep breath, "On a scale of one to ten, how bad does it hurt?"

He tilts his head to the side and squints his eyes as she takes a second to think. "Five maybe?" he says hesitantly. But his eyes light up, "Callie?"

"Yeah bud?"

"How come the doctor thinks I was poisoned?"

I'm forced to stare at my brother for a while and I can't help but notice the innocence written all over his face. He still trusts anyone that he speaks to, and that's why he told the police my name. It was something that I both admired and feared for him. But I knew that I had to make a decision.

_Do I take that from him and tell him the truth about our mother, assuring that he'd never trust another woman again, and allow him end up like me?_

_Or do keep quiet and let him think that there's good in the world somewhere?_

"I really don't know, bud. Doctors make mistakes all the time," I lie. _And as long as he would believe them, I'd continue to lie. _

_It's what any REAL mother would've done. But then again, that's all our own mother had done for the past four years… Was I becoming just like her?_ I wonder.

* * *

**Chapter 23: Never Letting Go**

Jude and I make it all the way outside of the building and suddenly I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Is mommy picking us up?" he asks.

And the relief I felt just a second ago suddenly vanishes.

"No, we're going over there all by ourselves, okay?" I answer and give him a smile. Of course it's a lie, but I didn't need him making a scene before we were a hundred percent safe.

_Why did these lies just keep building up? And why didn't it seem like a big deal to tell them anymore?_

"Do you think she missed us? I missed her," Jude confesses and I feel my eyes well up but keep my grip around his hand and continue to walk. I couldn't answer his question. And I was glad that it was still dark outside, so that he couldn't see my face very well.

"Callie!" I hear a woman yell from afar, and I'm almost positive it's that stupid cop again.

I don't even bother turning around. "Jude, run!" I tell him as I pull his hand to follow me as we race down the hospital's parking lot.

After only a few seconds, I see that he's clenching his stomach again with his hand and slowing down. I instantly pick him up and start to run with him. But he's too heavy and I can feel myself slowing down as I stare at the shiny path of the wet floor in front of me, just praying that I don't slip and go down.

"Callie! Stop!" she yells again but it just forces me to try and run faster.

And before I know it, I feel someone's hands wrap around both of my arms from the back, and I have no choice but to stop. "Let go of me!" I shout at the woman as I try to turn around and kick her. My feet were the only weapons I had, since my hands were full. But she flinches away and stares at me with an apparent expression of shock on her face.

I glare at her right back, silently daring her to come near me again. I was two seconds from letting Jude go and fighting her like both, mine and Jude's lives depended on it.

And in a way they did.

"Callie, take it easy, easy," she tries to calm me and she puts her hands up in submission, but her voice is stern and filled with authority.

"Then stop following me!" I shout back as I start to back away but she takes the same amount of steps closer towards us.

"I can't do that," she says softly as she shakes her head slightly. "You and Jude are both really sick, and I can't let you two leave the hospital. Not like this."

"No, we're fine," I protest. "Jude, tell her we're fine," I order him.

"We're fine," Jude answers, but Stef just gives us a sad look in response.

"The poison is still in your blood. The doctors are still trying to get all of it out, which is why you can't leave. They need to monitor you."

I stare at the floor not wanting to meet her gaze, not wanting to listen to anything she had to say.

"Callie, if you leave now, there's no telling what could happen…And I know that you don't want anything bad to happen to Jude."

All of a sudden, I hated her for using Jude as a bargaining tool. Or for making me feel guilty enough to do whatever she said. That's exactly what our mother used to do and look at all the damage she caused…

I glance away from her when I see the male officer running towards us and I know it's too late. Part of me wants to cry right then and there, but the other part knows that letting them see me cry was the worst possible thing I could do.

Stef starts again, "Callie, it's really important that you both come back inside—"

"You won't separate us!" I argue and I knew that if she disagreed, I'd take my chance and keep running with my brother. Fight them both if I had to.

She nods her head understandably. "Okay," she answers as if it were no big deal.

"No, promise me!" I snap at her. Even though I couldn't understand, why I thought a promise from her would do me any good.

_Our own mother promised us tons of things and managed to break every single one._

_What the hell was a promise from a stranger going to do for me?_

"I promise that I won't let anyone separate you two," the woman answers as she keeps her eyes focused on my own. _But for some odd reason, her promise feels different._

_I actually believe her._


	6. Part 6: Following Through

**A/N: So I update my fics based on my inspiration at the moment. I know that I haven't been updating them all evenly and I do apologize for that. I'm not intentionally ignoring any specific one. It just depends on what I'm in the mood to write. So I haven't abandoned any.**

* * *

**Chapter 24: Weakness**

"I promise that I won't let anyone separate you two," the woman says as she keeps her eyes focused on my own. I study her face for a while, wanting nothing more than to believe her. But at the same time, I wanted the exact opposite as well.

The only problem was that _I did believe her._

For some stupid reason that I couldn't understand, I did.

"But you have to promise me something too," the woman continues.

_Here it comes… There's always a catch._

"You have to talk to us, okay? You have to tell us how this happened."

I snap out of it, "No, forget it." And just as I'm about to turn around with Jude in my arms, I hear a loud and hoarse cough escape my brother's mouth that scares me back into reality.

"Callie," he mumbles softly and I turn to see his face, which I suddenly regret afterwards because I can see that he has tears in them. Even through the darkness of the night, I could still see the aguish in his face that says so much about how fearful he really was.

Even though Jude is young, he's never been one to cry, not since he was a baby. I couldn't ignore his tears then, and I couldn't ignore them now. No matter how badly I hated myself for not adopting my mother's strength and coldness at that exact moment.

I couldn't be like her.

**Chapter 25: Not Yet**

I carried my brother back inside and followed the nurse back in, who was glaring at me the entire time, as if I was the devil incarnated. But Stef followed along-side us and I was impatiently waiting for her to tell the doctors about her promise. Every second that went by without her speaking, felt like another lie being told to me. And it took every bone in my body to not breakaway from all of them and run out of the hospital once more, this time for good.

"They need a bigger room," Stef finally says. "They prefer to stay together."

"I'm not sure if that's the best idea," the nurse starts as she glances once more toward us.

"If you want their full cooperation, then you won't split them up," Stef insists.

"I'll have to confer with the doctor," the nurse says matter-of-factly, as if there was no way in hell the doctor would agree to it.

"Please do," Stef replies in a hasty tone as she watches the nurse walk away. Afterwards, she turns around to Jude and I. "It shouldn't be long, but we should have a seat for now," she says as she tries to push gently on my shoulder so that we'd follow her to the seats in the waiting room, but I stiffen my body.

Yes, Jude was beginning to get so heavy, I thought my right arm would break right off at any moment, but I had no inclination to let him go.

Not yet.

Not until I was sure we weren't going to be separated.

"Or we can stand too," Stef says awkwardly as she begins to close the distance between us as if she read my mind.

But for some reason her closeness made me feel uncomfortable. "No, you can sit," I tell her as if I'm offering but in reality I'm pushing her away. _I wonder if she realizes._

"No, I'm fine standing," she answers as she places her arms on her hips casually and shifts the weight of her body forward and then backward again.

_She's waiting for me to bolt_, I conclude. _She doesn't want to give me the upper hand, but at the same time, I'm not comfortable with her having it either._

* * *

**Chapter 26: No Idea**

I glance around at the entrance door and notice the other officer that was watching Jude, standing beside it and watching me like a hawk. Mike, I think his name was. He had his hands also on the sides of his pants as he lifted them up, thinking that it would scare me.

He really had no idea what I had been through.

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

"_Callie, what are you doing?" my older brother Chris asks as he rushes toward me as I begin to pack all of our belongings._

"_What does it look like I'm doing?" I ask rhetorically as I start to pack faster._

"_Cals, you can't do that. We are not allowed to go anywhere."_

"_Yeah. I know. That's the problem," I say matter-of-factly._

"_Well, even if we could leave, where would we go? Come on. Don't be stupid."_

"_We're already being stupid!" I snap. "Look around you, Chris! We've been willingly staying here for 6 months and are suffering all for what, huh? For the "supposed" chance to become rich? I don't want to be rich anymore. I want to go home! Colleen can have everything! She can have it all!"_

"_We don't have that home anymore. This is our home. We lost Dad to the fire, Callie. And we're never going to get him back. The home went along with him. You and I both know that he wouldn't want us to leave mom like this."_

"_Daddy would've never agreed to keep us locked up in here, either. I wish is was her that died in the fire instead of him."_

"_Don't say that! Dad would do the same thing, if he had no other choice! This is the only family we've got!"_

"_Well I don't want it!" I snap as I quickly zip up our suitcase and grab the green duffel bag and start to refill it on the bed._

_At that exact moment, we begin to hear the latch on the door opening. And for a brief second, I don't even care who's on the other side. _

_Scratch that. I DO CARE._

_I want nothing more, than for it to be my mother so I could tell her face-to-face exactly what I think of her. Exactly what I wish for her. I want to tell her how badly I hate her for allowing all of those bad things to happen to her children. To tell her how angry I am for allowing her evil mother to whip her five-year-old son with a belt the very first day we got here. To tell her that she meant nothing to us._

_But it isn't her._

_It's Olivia instead._

"_What the hell is going on here!?" she snaps as she glances over at the bags on the bed and then back over toward us._

_We all freeze from fear when we see the woman and all we do for a while is stare at her._

"_Well, is one of you going to answer me!? Don't you dare make me repeat myself!"_

"_It was me," Chris answers abruptly. "I told Callie and Jude that we were leaving…And Callie tried to talk me out of it. I'm sorry."_

_I want so badly to confess at that moment, because seeing the rage building up in Olivia's face made me fear for my brother's life. I even opened my mouth and waited for the words to come out, but I could feel my throat dry up and my heart begin to race as if it would pop out of my chest at any second._

"_Of course it was you! You boys, always with your mind in the gutter! The only gender dumb enough to leave a house where everything is given to you!"_

_I watch her reach into the pocket of her robe and fiddle with the whip that lay inside of it. My eyes immediately start to well up because we all know what's going to happen next._

"_Well, what are you waiting for?! Get moving!" the old and bitter woman yells as she points toward the bathroom door. _

'_Say something, Callie', my mind keeps telling me. 'Don't let her do this to him.'_

_But I didn't think I could bear any more slashes on my back. Not now. Not while I still had some that I had just gotten a few days ago, that refused to heal. And it always hurt more when she picked the exact same spot._

_Chris goes into the bathroom slowly but steadily, and I watch as our grandmother empties her pocket and lets the end of the whip drop onto the floor, before she closes the door behind them both._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

The nurse walks back over toward all three of us, and I make sure to take a few small steps backward just in case. This doesn't go unnoticed by the blonde because she places her hand gently onto my shoulder.

"Right this way," she says as she starts walking down the hall.

Jude and I share confused looks, but Stef pushes me forward, reassuring me that we heard the woman correctly.

* * *

**Chapter 27: Losing Grip**

Once inside I lay Jude on the hospital bed closest to the window and cover him up with the thin sheet. I pull back the blue curtain all the way so that there wouldn't be anything dividing us from seeing each other.

"Callie!" I hear Jude scream, which causes me whip back around immediately and run over to his side. I see the woman opening a small blue package with a needle and staring at Jude in shock. He wraps his arms around me and practically pulls me onto the bed with him.

I watch her gloved-hands the same way I watched our grandmother's after she released her whip from her robe. "Get away from him with that!" I snap as I give her the dirtiest look I could muster.

The nurse looks back at me with fear and then looks over at the blonde, as if asking her to detain me.

"Callie, they need to give him his medicine through the IV. He had it on before," she reminds me.

"And I wasn't here before," I retort as the memory of him being wheeled away from me replays in my mind.

"Honey, I know that this is hard for you to see, but it's the only way Jude will get better," Stef says softly.

"No," Jude cries as he buries his face into my chest. "Callie, please don't let them," he continues as he tightens his grip on my back. Something he had always done, when my grandmother threatened to whip him. I wrap my hands around his head and will myself not to cry as I stare at the ceiling.

But the tears come anyway.

It didn't make sense to me that they had to hurt him just so he could get better.

"Callie, this is very important. I promise it will be quick and—"

"No!" I snap at her and stare at the woman with just as much hate in my eyes as I had when I stared at the nurse.

She remains silent for a while and averts her gaze quickly away from mine and onto Jude's. "Hey bud," she says in a much kinder child-like voice, which causes Jude to turn his head to see her.

"I'm sure you want to get out of here, right?" she asks him.

I watch carefully as she takes a seat onto the bed and touches his foot. The gesture upsets me, even though I'm not entirely sure why. It wasn't a slap, but I still didn't want her hands on him.

Jude nods his head in response.

She laughs, "Yeah, I don't blame you. I kinda hate hospitals too."

"Then, why are you here?" Jude asks in pure confusion.

"For the same reason we're all here. Because we all want to see you and your sister get better."

"Why?" Jude asks again and I'm not at all surprised that he would ask the same question that was burning in my own mind.

Stef pauses for a second and I could see her eyes glistening, which catches me off guard, but she it quickly goes away and her silence is replaced with words, "Because we care about what happens to both of you. Whoever did this to you two is a bad person and made you believe that _all_ people are bad and that's just not true. I want to see you get better and get out of this place, and I already know that's what you want too, yes?"

Jude stares at the woman for a while as if contemplating the answer before he nods his head.

"What about you, Callie? Is that what you want?"

I glare at her, wanting nothing more than for her to disappear. I contemplate telling her that, but something kept me from speaking my mind. I pray that if I stare at her for a long enough time, she'll get up and walk away but all she does is look at me with sadness in her eyes.

"Well, the only way that's going to happen is if you let the nurse give you that medicine," she points to the IV bag. "It won't be that bad… It'll be over before you know it. And the faster you get it over with, the faster we all can get out of this stinky hospital. Doesn't that sound good?" she smiles at him.

"Callie, I want to go home," Jude says as he glances at me once more before he gives the nurse his arm, which even catches me by surprise. He immediately covers his eyes with his other hand and I wrap my arms over his body again, not willing to let go just yet.

* * *

**Chapter 28: Responsibility**

I laid beside him the entire time Jude and allowed him to fall asleep in my arms. The poison made him weak according to the doctor, which was why he was finding it hard to keep his eyes open.

They nurse hooked me up to another IV that they brought inside of the room, so that I would stop resisting all of their attempts to get me to leave his side. Once they realized that I kept waking him up every time he shut his eyes, they explained to me what the different color lines on the machine meant. And I was eyeing all three lines carefully and studying the number changes ever since then, rather than waking him up every ten minutes. Stef had stayed in the room and sat on the small sofa, keeping her gaze focused on her phone as she was typing away. I knew that she was watching us but moved her eyes away every time I glanced over to see if she had come any closer.

After almost an hour, I hear Stef speak, "Callie, do you think you can keep your end of the bargain now?"

"Huh?" I ask in confusion not knowing what she referring to.

"…You promised you would tell us what happened, sweets. Remember?" she asks in a low voice.

I think back and realize that I did, in fact, forget.

I hadn't expected her to really come through once the nurse disappeared to see if putting Jude and I together was okay.

I stare at the floor not willing to meet her gaze.

"Do you think you can get up from Jude's side and move to your own? I don't want us to wake him up again. He looks pretty tired," she says as she looks over at his face.

I didn't want her to change her mind about keeping us together, so I nod my head and glance at my little brother, getting one last look to make sure he was asleep before planting a kiss on his forehead and getting out of the small bed.

"Slow down, Callie," Stef says as she grabs the tube that was connected to the IV needle on my arm and moved it out of the way, so that I wouldn't step on it. "Let me help you," she continues as she helps me stand up and grabs hold of the IV machine, rolling it toward the other bed. The whole time she's watching me, to make sure that I wouldn't yank the tube out by mistake.

As soon as I sit down, I look back up at my brother and realize that I didn't cover his body with the blanket. "Uh," I start as I try to get up, but she pats my knee with her hand.

"I got it," she says as if she read my mind and quickly walks over to him and places the sheet over his body, tucking it in. It was a gesture our mother used to do, before she turned into a complete stranger.

I keep my eyes focused on her movements, wondering why she acting so nice, but I couldn't bring myself to ask.

She moves the display of the monitor more toward my direction, and I realize that she had seen me staring at it, while I was laying beside Jude. And a few seconds later, she's sitting beside me on the other side of the bed and pulls out her notepad and pen, "Alright. Callie. Are you comfortable?"

I raise my eyebrows at her. _There was nothing comfortable about this._

"Aside from the obvious, I mean," she's said jokingly but quickly straightens her posture when she sees that I don't respond. "Can I get you anything before we start? You said you were hungry before? Was that just a distraction or were you really hungry?" she asks casually, as if I hadn't lied to her at all.

I am hungry but I want to get this interview over with, so I shake my head no.

"Are you sure?" she asks as if she didn't believe me.

I nod.

"Okay good. So we can start?"

I squint my eyes at her as if I had been waiting for it to start an hour ago.

"Alright… So first and foremost, I need to know who did this to you both. Do you know how you got the arsenic into your system?"

I stare at her wondering why she thought the question would be so easy for me to answer.

"Was it somebody you know?" Stef asks again, trying a different approach this time. But my throat goes dry because I can't force myself to answer. "Callie, who is responsible for all of this?"

I turn my attention toward my brother before I answer the easiest question of the night.

"I am."

* * *

**To be continued…**

**Yes, cliff. I know. I'm evil lol.**

**But what do you guys think of the story so far? I'm curious to find out. And any guesses as to what happened to their older brother, Chris? If Callie will tell the truth soon? If they'll even believe them? **

**Yes, I'm making you think :P**


	7. Part 7: Petals In The Wind

**Chapter 29: Who is They?**

"What does that mean?" Stef finally asks after a long pause. "What do you mean you're responsible?"

"It means exactly what it sounded like," I tell her. "I should be held responsible for this, for all of this." I glance down at my fingers and I can't help but wonder how many times I packed our bags to leave Foxworth Hall.

_Usually, Chris was the one to stop me but what about when he left?_

_Why had I stayed?_

_I really had no excuse and for that it was my fault._

_There was no excuse for letting my brother go unprotected._

I realize that I've stayed silent for long enough and I finally open my mouth again, "If I had gotten out of there… before, like when I really wanted to, none of this would have ever happened… I think I'm just as sick as they are."

"No," Stef says in a stern voice. "You are not sick."

"Yeah," I mumble as if I believed her, but the truth was I knew better than to.

I can tell that she knows I didn't take her comment seriously, but luckily she doesn't dwell on it for too long. She probably knows it'd be a lost cause. "What do you mean you should've gotten out of there? Where?" the blonde asks intently. "And who is they? Did somebody keep you there?"

_I don't talk. _

_I know I promised to, but some things were better left unsaid._

_And what good would it do now anyway?"_

"Callie…who is they?" the woman repeats, and I can tell that she's not ready to drop it.

"It doesn't matter," I mumble. "You won't believe me," I shake my head slightly and shut my eyes in an attempt avoid her.

_And the technique works._

_It works too well…_

_Because I'm not in the hospital room anymore._

_Instead, I'm in that dark and dusty attic surrounded by hundreds of multi-colored paper flowers that will never grow. Practically all of the colors on the papers have faded, but I can't get rid of them no matter how much they repulse me._

_Jude likes them too much. _

"Hey," she puts her hand on my shoulder, but I flinch away and open my eyes again. And for a second I can almost see Olivia staring back at me in Stef's place, until my vision clears and I remember where I am. Stef puts her hand back to her side, "I'm sorry. I didn't—I didn't mean to scare you. But if you don't tell me anything, how do you know that I won't believe you, huh?"

"…Because they destroyed everything so that you couldn't. All of our documents and anything that ever proved that we even existed is gone... They're too smart. You're never going to find them," I shake my head again.

_Why am I even wasting my time? _

_And why is she wasting hers? _

_Couldn't she see that the papers flowers were out in the open now?_

_Just because they were finally out of the attic didn't make them real… and that didn't mean they could be planted into ground and blossom like they were supposed to._

_Now they were just shredded papers that were supposed to resemble petals._

_Petals that were blowing in the wind but no one would ever catch them._

_And they'd keep blowing away until the rain finally came down and finished them off._

_Had they just stayed in the attic they might've had a chance._

_But then again... they were never really alive when they were brought up there either. _

"Who are they?" Stef asks abruptly, taking me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I ask, making it obvious that I had been in a daze.

"Who are the people who are too smart?"

"Oh, um...our mother… our grandmother, and grandfather, and their butlers, their lawyers, their money… Don't you get it? There's no point to this. All you questioning me is just going to get Jude and I in more trouble."

"There is a point, Callie. You and your brother were poisoned… That wasn't right of anyone to do."

"Exactly," I snap back at her. "We were poisoned and left in an attic to die. I mean, it was bad enough that they locked us in there for over four years… but then they tried to kill us—"

"Who did?"

"…My mother. Maybe my grandmother too. I'm not to sure"

"Why?"

"Because… we're the devil's spawn, evil from the moment of conception." I pause and stare at the woman's bewildered face and I knew she would never get it.

But what I couldn't understand was how people could ask so many questions and be surprised when the answers didn't meet their expectations.

"Do you see what I'm talking about?" I ask her. "You don't even understand what I'm saying, but you're still here thinking that you want answers to these questions. And in reality you don't. You want to hear the answers that you want to hear. The answers that will help you close the case; will help you sleep at night so just…write whatever you want to write down on the statement. It's doesn't even matter."

* * *

**Chapter 30: The Devil's Spawn**

"Yes, it does matter, Callie. You promised that you'd talk to me, remember? You promise to tell me everything."

"But you don't believe me."

"No, I never said that. I just don't understand what you meant by… What do you mean when you said you were the devil's spawn, huh? Who called you that? …Your mother?"

I sigh deeply and I don't understand why she's working this case so hard. "Grandmother… Though it's my mother's fault, that's what we are. If it wasn't for her, we would've never been in that attic in the first place."

"Why did she call you that?"

"Because our mom's marriage to our father was unholy, an abomination in the eyes of the lord—"

"I don't…"

"Our father was also our second uncle. He was our mom's uncle... They were practically the same age, but that doesn't matter. God sees everything. He knows all of the evil that was done and _we_ are a result of that evil. That's why our grandmother treated us the way she did… How can you ever have love for something that was the direct result of a sacrilege?"

Stef stares at me for a long time and I can see the pity in her eyes. Part of me just wants to slap it off her, like our grandmother had done to me so many times. "There's enough pity in this world and we're the last people who deserve it. We don't even want it," I remind her.

"I don't pity you," she tries to defend.

"Good," I tell her. "It would probably be a sin anyway."

She coughs nervously but I could still see that she's pretending to be tough for this. I of all people could read so many emotions by now, having been around so many of them for all of these years. I could read her like a book.

I can tell that she's clenching her teeth together in order to try to keep a straight face, even though her mouth is completely closed…

I can tell that she's looking away from me and trying to stare at the piece of paper just long enough to distract herself from crying...

And I can tell most of all, how she's feeling by the constant movement that her nostrils are making as she's breathing through them, trying to catch her breath so that she can finally find the courage to say anything.

* * *

**Chapter 31: Where Is Everyone**

"What's your mother's name?" she asks after a long moment of silence, but not before she pretends to write something on the notepad in front of her.

She wanted to change the topic.

Not surprising. She wanted to get the details, without getting the details.

"Colleen. Colleen Jacobs. Or maybe it's Foxworth. No…wait I think she got married. I'm not entirely sure since I've barely seen her for four years."

"What do you mean you've barely seen her? I thought that she was the one who put you in the attic?"

"Yes, for four years. Me, Jude, and my older brother Chris. But she stopped visiting us after a while…She used to visit everyday, but then it became twice a week, once a week, once every two weeks…then I just stopped counting."

"Okay…Your older brother Chris? Where is he?"

I shrug my shoulders. "He escaped last year to get help for us but he never came back… It took him three years to realize what I had been telling him since day one. That our mother was selfish and only cared about herself. And still… he left us to rot in there just like our mother did. Who cares where he is?"

"You've never hear back from him?" she asks in a worried tone.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" I ask. "It's only been a year…"

To be continued…


End file.
